October Message of the Month – One Thing at a Time

by Shiela Reed

One thing at a time. Slow your breathing and you’ll slow your mind, then everything else will follow. Take your time. It is all OK as it is.

It is so hard to slow down and focus on one thing at a time. I often find myself racing from one thing to another without being consciously present in any of it! This is actually detrimental to any progress and a misguided notion that we “should do more”… for example, I am a firm believer that multi-tasking is a myth and has misguided MANY of us! As we become more and more separated and distracted from being fully present in a moment or task, we ultimately find we aren’t really being “good” at any one thing at all!

As I’ve become more aware of this, I have found this is a root of much of my anxiousness. I actually feel better and in tune with my inner voice when I pay attention to this “signal” and remind myself to slow down. Lately this has been extra intensified and with all the energetic shifting going on around all of us, I know I am not the only one.

For example, right now I feel a strong need to “de-clutter” more. But letting go of things feels difficult. I know this is a sign that I have some work to do in this area. I’ve tried a little at a time by focusing on one area or theme. i.e. clothes, stored items.. things where I KNOW I have things that can “go” and I won’t “die” if I actually DO get rid of them, (haha) but you know, I still only end up being able to ditch a few things! What the heck?! I can actually FEEL the anxiety underneath, the “fear” of “what IF” I need this “someday”?! Another “thought” is about how the item reminds me of something, someone, or an event/time.. and I worry I will “forget” the memory. I take a next step and wonder WHY is this coming in like this? What is the REAL reason I am holding on?..
Knowing from my inner heart space that this is necessary for me to “make room” for anything new, why is it still so hard? I also know that it pulls me into the past, which intuitively I know can serve a purpose, (understand and learn from the past type of thing) but can becomes a problem when I can’t “hear” or “see” a flexible future. Instead I feel limited or restricted. Those are signs that I’m not in the moment or trusting my heart. Instead there is an overlay of a fear of something…

So I keep going back to “one thing at a time”, over and over and over. Resetting myself… starting by just realizing it and then trying to just focus on the moment and asking myself if this (item, situation, person, feeling) is important for me or to my “best/ true inner self “.
Sometimes it is, and is clearly only “for now”, sometimes it is not, but I have to acknowledge there is something deeper going on if I cannot “let it go”. Either way, it is important to not get caught here and thus not be able to move on, one way or the other.

Therefore, right now, all I’m able to do with those moments, is to practice another form of “one thing at a time” and realize that some things I’m just not ready to deal with, so I set it aside and work on NOT getting caught up in a mental loop about it.

It’s been such a theme this month that it has felt important to share. If for no other reason but to say “hang in there”. “One foot in front of the other”. “One thing at a time”. And I’m discovering that it doesn’t mean that each “thing” always gets “done”. Sometimes, it’s just being in the moment of whatever is going on, and then moving on to a next moment while accepting that becoming overly “obsessed” about finishing something, is probably going to end up counter productive.

So join me and pick one “focus” at a time and take it easy… Enjoy, appreciate, and fill it with love.
After all, it is what will provide us the support and solid base for all things that will come to us in our future.